Dying Earth at the Otherland Book Club

"He knew lore of all ages, secrets of fire and light, gravity and countergravity, the knowledge of superphysic numeration, metathasm, corolopsis."

Only a week from today is the day I have been waiting for so long: Next Friday, March 8, 7.30 pm we are finally discussing Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth and I am all excited!

There are few things as uplifting as diving into Vance's gallant, grotesque, comical, absurd world and no one has ever been able to write so richly, so polished, craftily and cunningly...
Tales of Dying Earth did not only create a separate sub-genre and heavily inspire the works of collosal names such as Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin, Dan Simmons, Gary Gygax and many more; it is also my favorite book ever. So I will not stop gushing about it.
The warmth, humor, cruelty, heroism, cowardice, humanity in these books never fail to make me happy and to me Vance is the best; he is unique, funny, stylish and he should have had a much greater impact on fantasy and current literature. This is the one book I would take on a deserted island with me.

Starting with...


... six ultra-futuristic, interlinked fairy tales that orbit around various wondrous characters, this collection offers in the next two books, The Eyes of the Overlord and Cugel’s Saga, the quest of the funniest anti-hero Cugel of taking revenge from Iucounu the Laughing Magician for teleporting him to
the other end of the world. Twice. The last book, Rialto the Marvellous, deals with a great assembly of magicians who all prove to be highly dubious and self-serving.

The Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club meetings are always on the second Friday of the month at 7.30 pm at the Otherland Bookstore. The additional sessions on horror and theory also take place on a Friday. There's always snacks and drinks that you don't have to pay for, but contributions are welcome. You never need to sign up to join us, but we appreciate it greatly that you do read the book if you're coming.


Next dates and titles for the OBC are:

March 15th - Otherland Speculative Theory Book Club-
“About 5750 Words” by Samuel R. Delany (published in The Jewel-Hinged Jaw)
and
“Truth as a Vehicle for Enhancing Fiction, Fiction as a Vehicle for Discovering Truth” by Steven Brust (published here).
April 12th - The Trees by Ali Shaw
May 10th - Kindred by Octavia Butler
May 24th - Horror Special: The Elementals by Michael McDowell